Category Archives: Observations

Looking Forward and Looking Back

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I’m really looking forward to racing tomorrow at Edgefield. That place has a lot of amazing memories for me; Amanda and I celebrated our first few anniversaries there, and the notion of recycling a poor farm into an affordable and fun B&B strikes me as perfectly Oregon. Toss in a par 3 golf course, movie theaters, lots of beer, and accessibility to some of the best riding in Oregon, and Edgefield is truly one of my favorite places. And now we’ll have a ‘cross race there? Sign me up.

That said, I really hope I do well tomorrow. I’ve been looking at crossresults.com, and becoming increasingly sad about my athletic performance this season. Jumping into Excel, you can see why: of a dozen races this season, I’ve been in the top half only 3 times. The top half.

But you know, I’ll do how I do. I’m not gonna get mad or get depressed about it. At the end of the season, I’ll make a chart of my placings, and use it as motivation for the next 9 months while I prepare to rock the socks off 2012.

Learning About Becoming a Human All Over Again

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Our weekend in Bend was great, and I’ll write up a recap of the race and festivities once I get some photos. But it was a weekend with Laurel away from home. Planning that is always a bit of jump off a cliff. Did we bring the right clothes? Did we bring enough food? Will we sleep at all? What if she gets sick?

It was exacerbated by the fact that Lo was throwing up all week last week. Like, literally every night she’d vomit the entire contents of her stomach all over Amanda or I. But mostly Amanda. And she had maybe one good night of sleep, which meant we (read: Amanda) had pretty much zero nights of good sleep. (Hell, I was just standing around at a stupid tradeshow all week. Whee!)

So we thought there’s no way she’ll rally for Bend. Let’s just stay in and sew all weekend. But Thursday night she ate and slept and woke up like a million bucks. So we decided we’d go.

The first night in Bend was great. She was a delight. The folks we stayed with adored her and brought out all these old toys. There was much laughing and cooing. The first day at the race was super-fun, too.

But the second night, Continue reading →

Cyclocross for Beginners

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Be prepared for crowds.

A husband of a friend is starting cyclocross this Sunday, and he asked me for “any advice whatsoever.” (Update: Brett killed in his debut. He is crazy-strong.)

Needless to say, I got longwinded. Here, unedited, are the emails I sent him.

Random stuff to bring, other than the obvious stuff (bike, shoes, helmet, kit):

  • A pump (you’ll want to run your tires pretty low)
  • A complete change of clothes — you’re going to be filthy.
  • A towel or robe for a hint of modesty while you’re changing
  • Cash (for waffles and frites and a cowbell for your lady)

Get there early so you can get your number and pin it on. Numbers on the left — I think they have a mannequin that shows how they’re supposed to be pinned on. Since you’re racing beginner, the course will be open — ride twice at least. Try to ride it really fast at the end, because the start of the race is the fastest part of the race.

Pass as many people as you can at the start of the race when things get bottled up in corners. There will be openings on the left and right. If it’s faster to run, then run!

Push a big gear rather than spin in a little one — you’ll go faster and be more stable.

Hold your line in corners as best you can.

Laugh when you crash.
Continue reading →

Short Track Mountain Bike: Training for Cyclocross

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I’ve been riding Short Track Mountain Bike the last several weeks to train for ‘cross. I figured it’d be a good way to squeeze the competitive gland, get in a hard workout, and improve my bike handling. It has been all that.

The first race was awful. The course has a lot of loose dirt on it, much like the CCX course at Sherwood that I disliked so much. And my balance was crazy — not left and right balance, but fore and aft. I’ve discovered recently how important it is to think as much about weighting yourself front and back in the corners. Also, the course was super rutted, and I stupidly ran my tires with too much pressure. I didn’t rattle my teeth out, but I did get 58th out of 70. Ouch.

Since then, it’s gotten a little better each week. My placings have gone:

  • 58
  • 50
  • 42
  • 34

I’ve learned to push as hard as I dare early on, because my bike handling gets more confident as the race goes on. And also, the first lap is impossible to make up any time. I’ve learned to trust the bike a little more, and that running my tires at 50 PSI won’t cause an instant pinch flat (but will reduce the fatigue in my arms and jaw). Next year I might invest in either a mountain bike, or maybe at least some fatter tires. Ha!

Anyway, tonight is the last night. I’m sure it’ll be competitive, and I don’t know if I’ll improve this last night because I’m still sore from a workout I did last week. But it’s been a blast, and I feel totally ready for ‘cross season to start.

Managing Exhaustion

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I’m not exhausted yet, but am definitely feeling more tired. I still plan to hit the gym today, however, because we’re doing a whole lotta nothing this weekend other than camping and drinkng.

Oh sure, there might be a little hiking too. But generally speaking, I expect rest. And naps.

And I think that’s the trick to staying motivated and energetic when re-starting a workout program: keep your eye on the rest periods. When you start to run out of energy, determine if you can push through to the rest period.

And then really rest. Do nothing. Put your feet up. Crash. Get intimate with your couch.

That’s one thing I’ll do wrong this weekend — in all likelihood, it will not be that restful. So I may need to take off the early part of next week to recharge. We’ll see.

Finding a Cycling Team: Location, Location, Location

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Rode with my cycling coach Mike Manning yesterday at lunch from downtown Portland. At one point, he asked if I’d gone to any of the Meet the Team rides through OBRA. Being unattached or without a team in cycling is fine if you’re Lance. I’m clearly not, so Mike’s been gently pushing to get me with some people.

The “Meet the Team” rides start mostly downtown. But none of the regular team rides start remotely near our house in deep SE. And with just one car, I can’t monopolize it on the weekends to drive to Hillsboro or Beavertron or whereever. And unless I want to add 20 miles to every group ride I go on (I don’t), I’m out of luck.

A while back, I shot an email to the OBRA list. I got one semi-legit reply, which was for a vegan, organic triathlon team. Which is somewhat ironic because I’ve been considering getting back into the pool and focusing on triathlon to help strip off some upper-body weight.

Finding a team in cycling has been one of the most frustrating aspects of the sport. In swimming, which is my native sport, teams fall all over themselves to make new swimmers welcome. They encourage them to come out, try to be social, organize car pools, the whole shebang.

In cycling, the indifference to new members is shocking to me. You ask, and you get shrugs. You volunteer, and you get blown-off.

I had one outstanding experience when I first started with Veloshop, in that the Calver brothers (now with GSC United way the hell out in Beaverton) were some of the most welcoming, nice, encouraging people I’d ever met. They have a passion for the sport that completely infects new riders. But then, a few months later, the damn team kicked them off. I couldn’t even tell you why, because it was so bizarre.

Anyway, Mike off-handedly mentioned that he might put together a CycleOne kit to promote his cycling coach biz around the Portland area. I told him I’d wear it. And though it might not be a “team” in the strictest sense, I would certainly use it as an excuse to organize rides out here in SE.

Game on

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After a somewhat miserable week of exercise owing to the fact that I had to spend three days in Beaverton, this next week holds more promise.

Since I’ve put on so much weight and hill-climbing is destroying my knees and back, I went ahead and bought a new cogset with a 12-27 cluster. That 27-tooth cog looks like a damn frisbee back there, but whatever; I am not a proud man. (I’m waiting for my in-laws to get up from their nap so I can go test the new gears.) The cogs mean the next time Paul wants to go tackle the west hills, I’ll be able to walk the next day, presuming that I don’t have a heart attack.

I also moved my HRM back to my summer bike (oh glorious summer!). Actually, it was more moving the speedometer over. So I’m hoping to try a little more exercise book-keeping (remember these workouts?), like time and distance and effort.

Which might be more interesting if I were training for something. But… I’m not.

I’m at a bit of a crossroads and I don’t know what to do. I’m kinda in this zone where I got a little burnt on all of the training. More specifically, other than Paul who I see approximately every 19 months, none of my friends are particularly athletic. And so I really struggle to go out by myself because, after a while, it’s super-boring.

And the other excuses are that I’m a little bored riding up here and I don’t really have the time to dedicate like I used to. And so I was thinking maybe I’d attempt a triathlon comeback (the idea being that running and swimming can be done over lunch). Or maybe even focus on skiing for fall and winter, just to take a break from things. That way, I could do a lot at the gym (core and legs), then have fun winter weekends up on the mountain.

I also just got a decent bonus at work, and was considering using it on a cycling/triathlon coach. In a way, that might help with the boredom thing (learning new things, having someone push me), and it might be a good way to meet other riders.

OK, time to go wake up the in-laws. This is getting ridiculous…

Le Tour

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Great quote from Garmin-Chipotle DS Jonathan Vaughters, about crashing:

“Tell you what. Next time you’re in your car, get up to 50 mph, strip down to your underwear, then jump out the door. That’s what it’s like to crash in a professional bike race.”

I am a HUGE fan of Jonathan Vaughters and everyone at Garmin-Chipotle.

Specifically, Dave Zabriskie is hilarious.

“On the second leg of the flight, I got upgraded and things seemed to be looking up. I was watching the Golden Compass waiting to see those big bears with armor. Then, the stewardess announces that they are going to reboot the system because some of the movies aren’t working for people. Well, after the reboot, mine stopped working.

Now I’m reading Sky Mall magazine – I’m reading the details of an emergency generator. It can do everything – even charge your ipod. That’s what I would do in an emergency. I would charge my ipod.

Jonathan Vaughters is well-spoken.

David Millar is passionate.

And GC’s GC hope Christian Vandevelde is, from what I remember from Vandevelde’s 2004 Tour diary on Velonews, is all three.